Archeological Survey of the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Outparcel #5, Tift County, Georgia

Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. conducted archival background research and archeological field survey on a 12.2-ac (4.9-ha) tract of land owned by the University of Georgia Tifton Campus that is located in Tifton at the intersection of U.S. Highway 41 and Interstate Highway 7 5 (Figure 1 ). The University wishes to sell the tract and wanted to know if it contains any archeologically significant sites, sites potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The parcel was archeologically surveyed by SAS senior field archeologist Ron Schoettrner on November 6 and 7, 2017, following archival research into the historic period development of the tract.

As seen in Figure 1, the triangular project parcel is wedged between I-75 and a northbound exit ramp of I-75 on the west, by U.S. Highway 41 on the east, and by a long-standing property boundary on the south, which today is marked by an old fence and a woods line. The upper reaches of New River flow through the parcel, within a channelized bed. The very headwaters of New River are only 2 km north of the project area, and within the parcel it appears as a small stream. This portion of New River was channelized in the 1950s, and some of the spoil from that operation was encountered by our shovel testing. Because of the drainage, the parcel has moderate relief, at just over 20ft. For much of the latter half of the twentieth century the parcel was used for agriculture, and then after I-75 cut through it in 1957, it was used less intensively, mostly as garden plots. The land is now mostly fallow, with grass covering most of the former plowed garden plots (Figure 2). Still, there was a moderate amount of ground surface exposure, mostly along farm roads or a few garden plots (Figure 3) and in fortuitous patches of exposure, such as underneath rows of large, planted ornamental shrubs (Figure 4). The parcel now contains a metal storage building and several greenhouses (Figure 3).